This week on Torchwood, the team take a jaunt to Los Angeles, though Esther stops in Washington just long enough to report her unstable sister to the authorities. Jack, Gwen, Rex and Esther arrive at Venice Beach to continue their investigation of Phicorp, and Rex becomes perturbed when he receives a flyer for the 'Dead is Dead' campaign.

Using the slightest excuse to call up and flirt with Vera Juarez, Rex learns that the campaign - which calls for the containment of those who should have been killed during Miracle Day - is run by ambitious politician Ellis Hartley Monroe (there's an 'American' name from the man that brought you 'Trinity Wells'). Vera has little time for Rex, as she's busy being dragged into the latest medical doctrine, which involves quarantining all emergency patients into one hospital - in effect, a plague ship.

The Torchwood team book into a low-rent motel room, which has limited facilities but does apparently boast a wireless connection powerful enough to support Esther's top-level hacking. Gwen receives a call from Rhys, who seems a little grumpy that he's stuck in Wales while his wife is sunning herself in LA - you get the feeling that 'series regular' Kai Owen might share the sentiment. Gwen doesn't trust the hospital and asks Rhys to get her dad out - surely nothing can go wrong? Meanwhile, Jack sets up a permanent trace on Oswald, convinced that he is somehow at the centre of the crisis.

Speaking of Mr Danes, he's busy being creepy in a hotel room. Jilly - now his full-time assistant - arrives with the news that his star is dwindling and that Ellis Harley Monroe is taking up the spotlight. Things are also going badly for Rex, who gets a brief character-building scene in which he visits his neglectful father. Ever wondered why Rex can sometimes act like a d**k? Turns out that Matheson Senior is an even bigger one, ejecting his injured son from his home.

Back at Torchwood base, the team plan to steal a vital Phicorp server and leave a damaged duplicate in its place. Since only one - Nicholas Frumkin - can gain complete access, Jack and Gwen pose as a couple (with the latter adopting a dodgy Valley Girl accent) to get the relevant data from their target. Poor old Frumkin later receives a far less pleasant visit from unnamed assassin (C Thomas Howell) who has been tracking Torchwood from Washington. Like our heroes, the assassin needs Frumkin's palm-print and retina scan, but he takes the required 'parts' by force - ouch!

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Things are going equally badly on the medical front , as the 'plague ship' becomes over-crowded, full of infectious patients and abandoned babies. Ellis Hartley Monroe is cashing in by speechifying outside of the hospital, but Oswald has a bright idea and walks straight into the building, stealing the politician's spotlight. Once inside, Oswald delivers a rallying speech to the sick and the lame and everyone appears to forget (once again) that he's a murdering paedophile. Even the soundtrack seems to agree that he's inspirational.

Meanwhile, Torchwood infiltrates Phicorp: Gwen goes undercover in high-heels with a high-powered haircut, while Jack takes up the somewhat less convincing cover of a delivery man. The building is evacuated using a fire scare, but Esther learns that, following her visit to her sister Sarah, her nieces are now in foster care, with their mother being held in a psych ward. Rex is as sympathetic as ever and bellows angrily at his emotionally-fraught, sobbing colleague for compromising their mission.

Annoyingly he's right, as C Thomas Howell has also gained access to Phicorp and captures Jack and Gwen. As Howell interrogates the pair, he spews out helpful exposition with almost every line - in short, the forces behind the Miracle have made Jack mortal for a reason, as he gave something to Howell's employers a long, long time ago. Unfortunately, just as he's about to reveal more, Howell is shot 'dead' by Rex. Even when he's saving the day, Rex somehow manages to screw up.

Back in the villain camp, Oswald's media stunt has put him back on top, while his one-time rival Ellis Hartley Monroe is killed by the sinister Triangle organisation that seems to be behind the Miracle. And with that it's time for our weekly cliffhanger - just as Esther learns that Phicorp owns and has sinister plans for 'overflow camps' like the plague ship, Gwen discovers that bumbling Rhys has moved her dad to one of the very same facilities. No wonder he's not allowed to visit LA.

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* We're finally getting some intriguing clues as to the nature of the Miracle - it seems that Jack has a past with the organisation behind the event, while the creepy voice that orchestrates Monroe's death warns her "We are everywhere, we are always, we are no-one, and soon, the families will rise" - wonder what that means??
* Speaking of Monroe's death, her fate is one of the darkest yet - kept alive within her own crushed vehicle. Nasty!